Sweden

Turkey requested the extradition of the requested person for the enforcement of a sentence of six years and three months’ imprisonment for alleged membership in an armed terrorist organisation. The conviction was based mainly on the allegation that the requested person had downloaded and used the encrypted messaging application ByLock, which Turkish authorities associate with the Gülen movement. The Supreme Court of Sweden held that such conduct did not, in itself, amount to punishable participation in a terrorist organisation under Swedish law, and that the requirement of double criminality was therefore not satisfied. The Court further noted that the requested person had been granted refugee status in Sweden because Turkish authorities attributed to him a political opinion linked to the Gülen movement, and that the risk of persecution remained. Extradition was therefore barred under Sections 4 and 7 of the Swedish Extradition Act.

For the purposes of double criminality, it is necessary that, at the time of the decision on the extradition request, the Italian legal system classifies as an offence the conduct for which surrender is sought. However, it is not required that the abstract legal definition of the offence under the requesting State’s law finds an exact counterpart in a provision of Italian law. What must be established is that the conduct, described in its factual (naturalistic) elements, can be subsumed under a criminal offence provided for by the legal system of the requested State.